IN the district where the writer lives there are several very deep wells. The country is hilly, and in order to get water it is needful to go down in some cases to nearly 400 feet. Talking to a local resident about one of these wells, he said: “When I was a boy there was a very large stone lying near the top of the well, and out of pure mischief I decided one day to try to get that stone down into the well. I worked at it until I got it to the edge of the well, and then down it went. But that was not the end of it.
“Some years after, when I was grown up, I had to go down that same well and clean it out at the bottom, and I found that very stone had to be got out of the well. I hardly knew how to manage it. I thought if I put it on the bucket for the others to wind it up to the top it might be thrown out of the bucket, and I should be killed. I couldn't leave it at the bottom of the well. So I decided to put the stone in the bucket, stand upon it, and lay hold of the chain so that the stone and myself might reach the top together.”
The stone that had been buried so long was now seen at the top.
The same thing is true with regard to sin. YOUR sin so long committed, so long buried, must come up against you. And if you die in your sins you will be raised in them, and they will come up into the light of the divine presence in the judgment day. Let me earnestly beseech you not to bury or cover over your sins any longer, but uncover them now, confess them now. There is forgiveness now offered, full and free. God is ready to forgive, to pardon and blot out.
Listen! Jesus, His beloved Son, has visited this world. He has gone down into the depths. He has brought up the sin so long buried in oblivion. He has suffered on sin's account. He has made a sacrifice for sin. He has brought it up into the light of day and had it thoroughly exposed. And judgment on sin's account fell on Him as He hung upon Calvary's tree.
Is this nothing to you? Was there any sorrow like unto His sorrow? He felt what sin was. He who was absolutely holy and sinless, was made sin, and when making atonement had to realize distance, darkness, judgment. What a Savior! If you trust in Him you will discover that your sin has been atoned for by Him. He was treated as you righteously deserved that you might get the favor He deserved.
My friend, come to Christ, and that just now. He will receive you. Our friend of whom we have written, we fear, loves not the Lord. Christians he hates, and yet they desire his soul's eternal blessing. He is on the brink of the grave. Threescore years and ten have rolled over his head some time ago, and yet we have never heard of his bowing to the claims of Christ. Be warned. Let your sin find you out in time, otherwise it will find you out in a lost eternity. E. G.